ITW Thriller Awards Nominees

Nominees for the 2008 Thriller Awards, which are sponsored by International Thriller Writers and whose winners will be announced at the ThrillerFest Gala Banquet on July 12 in New York City, are:

Best Novel

No Time for Goodbye by Linwood Barclay (Bantam)
The Watchman by Robert Crais (S&S)
The Ghost by Robert Harris (S&S)
The Crime Writer by Gregg Hurwitz (Viking)
Trouble by Jesse Kellerman (Putnam)

Best First Novel

Interred With Their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell (Dutton)
Big City, Bad Blood by Sean Chercover (Morrow)
From the Depths by Gerry Doyle (McBook Press)
Volk's Game by Brent Ghelfi (Holt)
Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill (Morrow)

Best Paperback Original

The Last Nightingale by Anthony Flacco (Ballantine)
A Thousand Bones by P.J. Parrish (Pocket)
The Midnight Road by Tom Piccirilli (Bantam)
The Queen of Bedlam by Robert McCammon (Pocket)
Shattered by Jay Bonansinga (Pinnacle)

I read two out of five of the Best Novels and didn't love either one.

The line seems to be blurring (again) between Thriller and Horror, with Joe Hill nominated here for Heart-Shaped Box, a horror novel. If you recall, ITW founder David Morrell won the Bram Stoker Award for best horror novel for his thriller, Creepers.

I love PJ Parrish and I was really thrilled for them last year when they won the Thriller Award for best paperback for An Unquiet Grave, which is definitely a mystery. So again, more blurring between mystery, which is what they write, and thriller. This nomination seems more appropriate to me, I have no trouble with A Thousand Bones being considered a thriller, but will this relatively new organization pick the same winner as last year in this category?

Things are definitely looking interesting for the Thriller Awards this year.

LEFT COAST CRIME
Guest Blogger: Becky LeJeune

As a 26-year-old self-proclaimed book junkie, I often read about other people’s convention experiences with green-eyed envy. Well no more! With Left Coast Crime being held right here in Denver, there was no way I could miss it. Despite my looming deadline at work and the fact that I don’t drive around Denver at all if I can help it, I brought along my ever-useful Nuvi and made my way to the Adam’s Mark hotel each morning with excitement and anticipation of what the day would hold.

Day one at Left Coast Crime and I spied Toni McGee Causey as soon as I walked in the building! I was much too shy to go introduce myself until later when she was signing, but I was totally stoked about recognizing my fellow Southerner right off the bat and it was, for me, the perfect start to my weekend.

That day I attended panels on the use of sidekicks in mysteries, Cozymania, comedy in mystery, and psychological thrillers. Some of the interesting topics that came up included the difference between thrillers and mysteries (the consensus was pacing and the why more than the who – mystery can allow for a slower pace and is usually concerned with whodunit while the psychological thriller has to keep a faster pacing and is concerned with the whydunit) and the use of labels - a topic that is very interesting to me as a former bookseller.

The second day at the convention I sat in on the Dicks with Baggage, Modern PI panel, the hilarious Sex and Violence panel, a cross-genre panel with a supernatural twist, a panel focused on historical mysteries, and finally the International Thriller Writers Thrills and Chills Panel.

Various points of discussion included the traditional versus the modern PI, whether there can be too much sex or violence in a book (a unanimous no amongst panelists who all agreed that as long as it is relevant and necessary to the story, there can never be too much), again, the label topic this time in regards to the ever-growing list of sub-genres specifically in regards to urban fantasy, what sparks interest in a historical author, and the methods used by the ITW authors when trying to keep you up all night.

Saturday’s panels included the two Mystery Writers of America panels on character and plot development. Thanks to JT Ellison who picked me out of the crowd for the character exercise, making me a woman from a broken home considering the use of a hit-man for husband elimination! It was an absolute blast. I also attended an “endless discussion” on tough broads with panelists Jeanne Stein, JT Ellison, Michelle Gagnon, Alexandra Sokoloff and Pari Noskin Taichert. I caught the tail end of the Authors on the Hot Seat panel in which Twist Phelan talked about her hilariously nightmarish signing experience.

Overall my first convention experience was fantastic. I walked away with some interesting bits of information and met some fantastic authors – Toni McGee Causey, Simon Wood, Laura Benedict, Marcus Sakey, Jeanne Stein, Mario Acevedo, Pari Noskin Taichert, JT Ellison, Michelle Gagnon, CJ Lyons, Laura Caldwell and many, many more. I bought a ton of books having had my interest piqued by many of the authors on the panels. It was a totally indulgent weekend for me and it definitely won’t be my last convention!

Pictures:

Alexandra Sokoloff in the Where do These Stories Come From (plot panel)

Michelle Gagnon and JT Ellison in the Tough Broads discussion









Pari Noskin Taichert and Jeanne Stein in the Tough Broads discussion

Pari Noskin Taichert in the Where do These People Come From (character panel)

GUEST BLOGGER: CJ LYONS

I am delighted to introduce CJ Lyons, whose fabulous new thriller, LIFELINES, hit bookstores everywhere on March 4.

Award-winning medical suspense author CJ Lyons is a physician trained in Pediatric Emergency Medicine. She has assisted police and prosecutors with cases involving child abuse, rape, homicide and Munchausen by Proxy and has worked in numerous trauma centers, as a crisis counselor, victim advocate, as well as a flight physician for Life Flight. Publisher's Weekly proclaimed her debut medical suspense novel, LIFELINES (Berkley, March 2008), "a spot-on debut….a breathtakingly fast-paced medical thriller" and Romantic Times made it a Top Pick. Contact her at http://www.cjlyons.net

Why all Librarians live in Heaven….

When I was a kid growing up, the biggest treat (aka bribe) my mom could offer me was a trip to the library. I loved our library, its solemn architecture, hushed atmosphere, it was like being invited into another world.

A world made even more delightful when my mother convinced the librarian that instead of the children's library card (which meant an adult had to okay your books and they could only come from the children's section) but at the ripe old age of ten, I was given the golden pass, the Disney E ticket, the keys to the kingdom….the coveted adult, free-range, choose all you can carry, library card!

I still remember the feeling of browsing those stacks of books towering so high over my head. And oh, the friends I found there! In mysteries there were: Agatha Christie, Rex Stout, Frances and Richard Lockridge, Leslie Charteris, Josephine Tey, Ellery Queen (who, along with Archie Goodwin, I had a crush on).

Turn the corner and the science fiction section beckoned with the likes of Isaac Asimov (who I actually met once), Ray Bradbury (who I would love to meet!), Tolkien, Heinlein, Edgar Rice Burroughs, H. Rider Haggard, and so many others.
And then, oh my, there was the fiction section. Tales of drama, family sagas, historicals (I was probably the only girl in school who read all seven of the Musketeer series), tales of intrigue, revenge, love, and loss….

Mom was lucky I left the library at all. To me it truly was heaven, even though the roof leaked, most of the books were old and falling apart, the floors sagged, and there was a strange black crud that crept over the ceiling and down the walls. Which is why years after I left home, our town replaced my library with a non-leaky, non-moldy, cold-hearted, brick edifice. Crisp, clean, modern, spacious—everything my library wasn't.

Except for one similarity. Inside there are still books waiting to invite children of all ages to other worlds and there are still their generous, kind-hearted guardians: librarians.

Somewhere along the line, I decided to create my own worlds and share them with others. And now with my first novel being released (on March 4th!!!), I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all the librarians in all the libraries in all the cities I've lived in for their hospitality and nurturing of the written word.
Getting a library card is still the very first thing I do whenever I move to a new town—there's nothing like that thrill of heaving open the heavy doors (ever notice how all libraries have very heavy doors?) and stepping into a world of possibilities!
And now those possibilities include my own novel, LIFELINES!!! What a dream come true!

How have libraries and librarians changed your world? I'd love to hear!

Thanks for reading,
CJ

PS: for any librarians (or anyone!) wanting to learn more about LIFELINES, feel free to visit my website, http://www.cjlyons.net

Guest Blogger: THEO GANGI

Theo Gangi is a new author - his first book, BANG BANG, came out in November.

A fan of Elmore Leonard, Theo shares his thoughts...

REUNITED

I’ve never tried to hide how much my favorite crime writer, Elmore Leonard, has influenced my writing. Up until I began reading him, I was struggling to figure out how to reconcile the diversity of my characters and style. I wanted to pull people in from all over the urban/ethnic landscape, so watching Leonard do it with such ease gave me hope I could do it too.

I have to pace myself with reading him—monogamy might work with relationships, but not with books. Though I don’t mind how my influence has been recognized by some of the reviews for Bang Bang, such as Mystery Scene Magazine referring to me as “The hip hop Elmore Leonard,” I’ve got to be careful to preserve my own voice.

It had probably been close to a year since I read one of his books. I’d found myself in a book rut, jumping restlessly from title to title—speed dating, as it were. Tried them out, had a couple laughs, but nothing worth committing to. Then I found a copy of Leonard’s Touch on a downtown bookseller table for two dollars. It was an old mass market Avon copy from the 80’s with those great noir covers featuring the props used in the novel—a bottle of Thunderbird, the Detroit Free Press, cash, incense, panties and a revolver on a red satin sheet. I bought it just for the cover and began leafing through on the way home.

Then I got hooked. Touch jumped to the top of my stack. I didn’t plan it, it just happened.

This book might not be what you’d expect from a crime writer. Touch is the story of Juvenal, a man afflicted with the stigmata who bleeds from Christ’s wounds and works as an AA counselor. As often happens in Leonard’s novels, the schemers/other characters figure out very creative ways to make money off of Juvenal, mostly involving the public viewing of Juvenal’s ability to heal people. The treasure hunt in this book is Juvenal himself, a would-be saint who falls in love like a teenager and is as nice to the drunks as he is to the right wing fanatics trying to cash in off of him.

An overall great read, impossible to put down, and, as always, makes you see people in a new and interesting light. Leonard’s plotting is remarkable– the tumbling, organic sense that his books are living as you read them. Leonard was known to claim he wrote his books to see how they ended, and as you read him, his stories have the organized chaos of a Charlie Parker solo, the improvisations of a master of form.

As a reader, I try to get a really diverse sample of the writing out there—in and out of crime fiction. But when the party starts, sometimes you’ve got to dance with the one that brung you.

Oprah Offers Free Download

Oprah Winfrey announced a free downloadable version of Suze Orman's bestselling book WOMEN & MONEY (published a year ago by Spiegel & Grau) is available at Oprah.com today and tomorrow through 5 pm Pacific time only. The PDF file is offered in both English and Spanish versions, and the site includes this message: "This book is copyrighted. You may view and download the file, but you may not copy the file or share or forward it to any other person."

Orman was featured on today's show, helping out a family in financial crisis.

The publisher notes "this represents the first time Ms. Winfrey has offered an entire book for free to her viewing audience."

Oprah download page

Happy Valentine's Day!

I got an email from the Internet team at Harlequin Romance that I thought I'd share...

>> We thought we would give you some advance notice about a special Valentine's Day gift from Harlequin that might be of interest to BookBitch readers. On February 14th, we are giving a free download of the eBook mini “Valentine's Wedding Dress” by bestselling author Sherryl Woods at www.ebooks.eharlequin.com

James O. Born is insane, but in a good way...

...and he makes me laugh.

Check it out:

Pneumatics and Mnemonics with James O. Born

Burn Zone

I adore Jim Born, and his books are pretty terrific too! So I was thrilled to get hold of his latest, BURN ZONE. Here's all the info...

Burn Zone
A new thriller by Real Life Cop James O. Born
Coming from Putnam Feb 2008

It was supposed to be a low-level bust for ATF agent Alex Duarte, with the hope that he could work it up the ladder to someone important. He just didn’t know how important. In New Orleans to check out a mysterious Panamanian named Ortiz who likes to trade guns illegally and import marijuana by the truckload, Duarte suddenly finds himself in the middle of something bigger than he has ever known. Because guns and drugs are bad enough – but there are other things that are much, much worse.
A shadowy colonel who is not what he seems…a white supremacist intent on becoming “the man who changed America”…an attractive FBI agent with a lot of pull and a lot of secrets…Duarte knows he’s in deep with these characters. He just hopes it’s not over his head.

“Field of Fire jumps Born into the ranks of the major thriller writers,” says W.E.B. Griffin. Burn Zone confirms it.

More information and schedule is posted at: WWW.JAMESOBORN.COM

James O. Born is the Gold Medal winner of the inaugural Florida Book Award for Escape Clause.

Remarkable praise for James O. Born’s novels:

"Field Of Fire is a whiz-bang, nonstop thriller, told with the voice of absolute authority. Jim Born never lets the action flag!"
-- Tess Gerritsen.

“Field of Fire is impossible to put down.” Mystery Scene Magazine.

"Jim Born raises the bar for the police procedural thriller."--Joseph Wambaugh.

“Jim Born is the real thing: a South Florida lawman with an authentic sound that puts
you at the scene. Walking Money is a winner.” -Elmore Leonard

“Top thrill-work . . .”- Kirkus Review, 3/05

“Putting 17 years of service with various law enforcement agencies to excellent use,
Born delivers a riveting, serpentine tale. . . . This is a terrific debut” - Publisher’s Weekly

Public speaking and media contact information: speakingjamesborn@comcast.net
Agent: Meg Ruley (212) 593-4330 mruley@janerotrosen.com
Publicist: Yamil Anglada (212) 366-2574, G.P. Putnam’s Sons Yamil.Anglada@us.penguingroup.com


Here is the tour schedule - Jim is a great speaker, funny and entertaining and interesting, all the good stuff. Go see him, buy a book, and have fun!

TOUR DATES
2/15– Murder on the Beach, Delray Beach 7 PM
2/16 – Circle Books, Sarasota, 1 PM
2/16 – Haslam’s Books, St Petersburg 4:30 PM
2/17 – Barnes & Nobles, Ft. Myers 1 PM
2/17 – Borders, Naples 4 PM
2/19 – Books & Books, Coral Gables 8 PM
2/20 – Borders, Boca Raton 7 PM
2/22 – South Carolina Book Festival 3 days
2/25 – Coffee Buy the Book, Roswell, GA 7:00
2/26 – Bayou Books/ Library, Niceville, FL 6:00
2/27 – Citrus County Library, Beverly Hills, FL
2/27 – The Muse, Deland, 6 PM
3/1 – Sleuthfest, Ft Lauderdale TBA
3/5 – Vero Beach Book Center, Vero Beach 7
3/8 – Low Country Writers, Charleston S.C.
3/8 – Barnes & Nobles, Charleston, SC 7PM
3/12 – SW Florida Museum fundraiser Evening
3/14 – SW Florida Book Festival TBA
3/18 –Barnes & Noble, Wellington 7PM
3/19 – Barnes & Noble, Plantation 7 PM
3/22 – Hooked on Books, Islamorada 3 PM
3/26 – Poisoned Pen, Scottsdale, AZ 7 PM
3/27 – Murder By The Book, Houston, TX
3/28 – Virginia Festival of Books, 4 PM
4/4 – Vero Beach Literacy Foundation
4/5 – Naples Press Club conference
4/22 – Florida Library Association

Library of Congress taps Web 2.0 to gain user expertise on photos
Pilot project with Flickr will leverage users to gather details about library's collection

January 17, 2008 (Computerworld) -- As part of an effort to expand access to its photograph collections and tap the collective knowledge of user-generated content, the Library of Congress yesterday launched a pilot project with photo-sharing site Flickr to publish some 3,000 photos.

The library's new Flickr page includes collections from the Great Depression and of life in New York City during the early 1900s for which no copyright restrictions are known to exist, said Matt Raymond, the library's director of communications.

Read this article in its entirety

Granta's 100th Issue!


Guest-edited by novelist William Boyd, the 100th issue of Granta features original pieces by Ian McEwan, Salman Rushdie, Harold Pinter, A. M. Homes, Jayne Anne Phillips, Doris Lessing, Nicholas Shakespeare, Alice Oswald and many other special contributers.

In 1979, a young American graduate revived an old Cambridge university magazine and created a home for good writing of all kinds—reportage, fiction, memoir, biography—as well as photography and, occasionally, poetry. In the years that followed, Granta established itself on both sides of the Atlantic, and continues to publish the best new writing in English from all over the world.

This very special issue will be available on January 29, 2008.

ALA's Notable Books Council announces 2008 top picks

PHILADELPHIA - The Notable Books Council of the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division American Library Association (ALA), today released its 2008 list of outstanding books for the general reader. The titles are selected for their significant contribution to the expansion of knowledge and for the pleasure they can provide to adult readers.

Since 1944, the goal of the Notable Books Council has been to make available to the
nation's readers a list of 25 very good, very readable, and at times very important fiction, nonfiction and poetry books for the adult reader. The Council consists of members selected from the membership of RUSA's Collection Development and Evaluation Section (CODES).

This is "The List for America's Readers:"

FICTION

Bloom, Amy, Away, Random House (ISBN: 9781400063567)

Carlson, Ron, Five Skies, Penguin-Viking (ISBN: 9780670038503)

Chabon, Michael, The Yiddish Policeman's Union, HarperCollins (ISBN: 9780007149827)

Clarke, Brock, An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England, Algonquin (ISBN:
9781565125513)

Clinch, John, Finn: a novel, Random House (ISBN: 9781400065912)

Englander, Nathan, The Ministry of Special Cases, Knopf (ISBN: 9780375404931)

Holthe, Tess Uriza, The Five-Forty-Five to Cannes, Crown (ISBN: 9780307351852)

Jones, Lloyd, Mister Pip, Dell (ISBN: 9780385341066)

McEwan, Ian, On Chesil Beach, Nan A. Talese (ISBN: 9780385522403)

Malouf, David, Complete Stories, Pantheon (ISBN: 9780375424977)

Pettersen, Per, Out Stealing Horses, Graywolf (ISBN: 9781555974701)

Trevor, William, Cheating at Canasta, Penguin/Viking (ISBN: 9780670018376)


NONFICTION

Ackerman, Diane, The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story, W.W. Norton (ISBN: 9780393061727)

Angier, Natalie, The Canon, Houghton Mifflin (ISBN: 9780618242955)

Ayres, Ian, Super Crunchers, Bantam Books (ISBN: 9780553805406)

Godwin, Peter, When a Crocodile Eats the Sun, Little Brown (ISBN: 9780316158947)

Groopman, Jerome, How Doctors Think, Houghton Mifflin Company (ISBN: 9780618610037)

Howell, Georgina, Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations; FSG 780374161620)

Isaacson, Walter, Einstein: His Life and Universe, S & S, (ISBN: 9780743264730)

Kingsolver, Barbara, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, HarperCollins (ISBN: 9780060852559)

Margonelli, Lisa, Oil on the Brain, Doubleday-Nan Talese (ISBN: 9780385511452)

Weisman, Alan, The World Without Us, St. Martins (ISBN: 9780312347291


POETRY

Bosselaar, Laure-Anne, A New Hunger, Ausable Press (ISBN: 9781931337328)

Kennedy, X.J., In a Prominent Bar in Secaucus, Johns Hopkins (ISBN: 9780801886539)

This list will be available on the Notable Books Web page on the RUSA/ALA Web site
(http://www.ala.org/rusa/notable.html) with annotations at a later date.

Members of this year's committee are: Sara Maxine Taffae (Chair), State Library of
Louisiana; Patricia L. Gregory (Vice-Chair), Saint Louis University; Alicia Kathryn Ahlvers, Kansas City Public Library; Susie F. Brown; Shaker Heights Public Library; Hope Cockrell, Denton Public Library; Daniel J. Gillane, Lafayette Public Library;
Steven Jablonski, Skokie Public Library; A. Issac Pulver, Saratoga Springs Public Library; Rhea Joyce Rubin, Rubin Consulting; Andrea J. Slonosky, Long Island University-Brooklyn Campus; Shawna Saavedra Thorup, Fayetteville Public Library; and Brenda Clark Wegener, Mercantile Library; with Brad Hooper, Booklist.

EDGAR AWARD NOMINATIONS ARE IN...

BEST NOVEL

Christine Falls by Benjamin Black (Henry Holt and Company)
Priest by Ken Bruen (St. Martin's Minotaur)
The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon (HarperCollins)
Soul Patch by Reed Farrel Coleman (Bleak House Books)
Down River by John Hart (St. Martin's Minotaur)

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR

Missing Witness by Gordon Campbell (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
In the Woods by Tana French (Penguin Group – Viking)
Snitch Jacket by Christopher Goffard (The Rookery Press)
Head Games by Craig McDonald (Bleak House Books)
Pyres by Derek Nikitas (St. Martin's Minotaur)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

Queenpin by Megan Abbott (Simon & Schuster)
Blood of Paradise by David Corbett (Random House - Mortalis)
Cruel Poetry by Vicki Hendricks (Serpent's Tail)
Robbie's Wife by Russell Hill (Hard Case Crime)
Who is Conrad Hirst? by Kevin Wignall (Simon & Schuster)

BEST FACT CRIME

The Birthday Party by Stanley Alpert (Penguin Group – G.P. Putnam's Sons)
Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy
by Vincent Bugliosi (W.W. Norton and Company
Chasing Justice: My Story of Freeing Myself After Two Decades on Death
Row for a Crime I Didn't Commit by Kerry Max Cook (HarperCollins –
William Morrow)
Relentless Pursuit: A True Story of Family, Murder, and the Prosecutor
Who Wouldn't Quit by Kevin Flynn (Penguin Group – G.P. Putnam's Sons)
Sacco & Vanzetti: The Men, The Murders and the Judgment of Mankind by
Bruce Watson (Penguin Group – Viking)

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHIC AL

The Triumph of the Thriller: How Cops, Crooks and Cannibals Captured
Popular Fiction by Patrick Anderson (Random House)
A Counter-History of Crime Fiction: Supernatural, Gothic, Sensational by
Maurizio Ascari (Palgrave Macmillan)
Deviance in Contemporary Crime Fiction by Christiana Gregoriou (Palgrave
Macmillan)
Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters by Jon Lellenberg, Daniel
Stashower and Charles Foley (The Penguin Press)
Chester Gould: A Daughter's Biography of the Creator of Dick Tracy
by Jean Gould O’Connell (McFarland & Company)

BEST SHORT STORY

"The Catch" – Still Waters by Mark Ammons (Level Best Books)
"Blue Note" – Chicago Blues by Stuart M. Kaminsky (Bleak House Books)
"Hardly Knew Her" – Dead Man's Hand by Laura Lippman (Harcourt Trade
Publishers)
"The Golden Gopher" – Los Angeles Noir by Susan Straight (Akashic Books
"Uncle" – A Hell of a Woman” by Daniel Woodrell (Busted Flush Press)

BEST JUVENILE

The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch (Little, Brown
Books for Young Readers)
Shadows on Society Hill by Evelyn Coleman (American Girl Publications)
Deep and Dark and Dangerous by Mary Downing Hahn (Clarion Books)
The Night Tourist by Katherine Marsh (Hyperion Books for Young Readers)
Sammy Keyes and the Wild Things by Wendelin Van Draanen (Random House
Children’s Books – Alfred A. Knopf)

BEST YOUNG ADULT

Rat Life by Tedd Arnold (Penguin – Dial Books for Young Readers)
Diamonds in the Shadow by Caroline B. Cooney (Random House Children's
Books – Delacorte Press)
Touching Snow by M. Sindy Felin (Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
– Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
Blood Brothers by S.A. Harazin (Random House Children's Books –
Delacorte Press)
Fragments by Jeffry W. Johnston (Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
– Simon Pulse)

BEST PLAY

If/Then by David Foley (International Mystery Writers' Festival)
Panic by Joseph Goodrich (International Mystery Writers' Festival)
Books by Stuart M. Kaminsky (International Mystery Writers' Festival)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY

"It’s Alive" – Dexter, Teleplay by Daniel Cerone (Showtime)
"Yahrzeit" – Waking the Dead, Teleplay by Declan Croghan & Barbara
Machin (BBC America)
"Pie-Lette" – Pushing Daisies, Teleplay by Bryan Fuller (ABC/Warner Bros
Television
"Senseless" – Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Teleplay by Julie Martin &
Siobhan Byrne O’Connor (Wolf Films/NBC Universal)
"Pilot" – Burn Notice, Teleplay by Matt Nix (USA Network/Fox Television
Studios)

BEST MOTION PICTURE SCREENPLAY

Eastern Promises, Screenplay by Steven Knight (Focus Features)
The Lookout, Screenplay by Scott Frank (Miramax)
Michael Clayton, Screenplay by Tony Gilroy (Warner Bros. Pictures)
No Country for Old Men, Screenplay by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, based on
the book by Cormac McCarthy (Miramax)
Zodiac, Screenplay by James Vanderbilt, based on the book by Robert
Graysmith
(Warner Bros. Pictures)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD

"The Catch" – Still Waters by Mark Ammons (Level Best Books)

GRAND MASTER

Bill Pronzini

RAVEN AWARDS

Center for the Book in the Library of Congress
Kate's Mystery Books (Kate Mattes, owner)

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER - MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD

In Cold Pursuit by Sarah Andrews (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Wild Indigo by Sandi Ault (Penguin Group – Berkley Prime Crime)
Inferno by Karen Harper (Harlequin – MIRA Books)
The First Stone by Judith Kelman (Penguin Group – Berkley Prime Crime)
Deadman's Switch by Barbara Seranella (St. Martin's Minotaur)

GUEST BLOGGER: LAURA BENEDICT

Laura Benedict is the author of Isabella Moon, her first novel which was published a few short months ago to wonderful reviews.


From Mount Olympus to Days of Our Lives: My Rules for Writing

When I first sat down to write a thriller, I gave myself two rules: 1) Something had to happen to move the story along in every chapter, and 2) The events could possibly happen on a scary, sexy version of my favorite television soap opera, “Days of Our Lives.” Does that sound funny to you? Whenever I give a reading or a talk and tell that story, it’s always followed by nervous giggles from most of the women and uncomfortable looks from attendant men. In academic crowds, people sometimes frown.

You see, soap operas aren’t considered acceptable role models for writers of literature. Soap operas are melodramatic---souped up on plot and emotion. They bring to mind housewives eating ice cream out of a box in front of the television, unattended children, piles of laundry. (Few people extend their disdain to men camped out in front of “Friday Night Lights,” or HBO’s “Rome.” But I digress.)

I have always loved plot: tattered copies of Bronte novels and Shakespeare’s plays have been among my most prized possessions. Years ago, someone gave my daughter a copy of D’Aulaires’ Greek Myths. Do you have any idea what Zeus’s sex life was like, what intrigues swirled around him, what agonies his family members put each other through? I adored the big family drama novels of the twentieth century. I swooned over The Thornbirds, Dr. Zhivago, and The Carpetbaggers. My more recent plot-driven favorites are by Elmore Leonard and Elizabeth George. Okay, so there might be a rather more direct connection between The Carpetbaggers and “Days of Our Lives” than Ancient Greece and modern-day Salem (the imaginary town where “Days” takes place), but my point is the same. It’s all about story and vibrant characters who tend to do the things we at home generally have the good sense not to—but really wish we could.

Before the writing of my novel, ISABELLA MOON, really got under way, I spent a considerable amount of time asking myself, “What’s the strangest/wildest/most unlikely thing that could happen right now? What would really be fun and astonishing?” How freeing it was to put the character-writing skills I’d developed over the years to use in a plot that pleased and entertained me.

One of the loveliest compliments a reviewer ever paid me was to say that the supernatural elements in ISABELLA MOON were as natural and realistic as the books’ characters. Little did she know how delighted I would be to read that, because I wanted my characters to be just as sensible as the inhabitants of Salem were when the beautiful and good Dr. Marlena Evans started inexplicably causing trouble. Was she depressed, mentally ill, or drunk? No. She was possessed by a demon, of course! So they got her an exorcist and she was soon right as rain. At least until a few years later when she was discovered to be a serial killer, but wasn’t really. It all had something to do with the victims’ bodies not really belonging to the victims, but to corpses surgically altered to look like the intended victims.

Pass the ice cream!

Matrimony Proposal for Reading Groups

I received an email from Joshua Henkin, author of MATRIMONY, which was selected as one of the New York Times top 100 Books of 2007. I thought I would share:

"I wanted to let you know about a standing offer I have out to book groups, which is that I'd be happy to participate by phone (or in person, if the book group is in the New York, New Jersey, Philly area) with book groups that discuss MATRIMONY."

If your book group is looking for an author to speak with, or you are in the tri-state area and would like to have an author discuss his book with your book group, get in touch with Josh through his website: JoshuaHenkin.com

I'm feeling Plum Lucky...


Janet Evanovich kicked off her Plum Lucky tour in my backyard, at the Borders in Boca Raton. She is a favorite of three generations of women in my family - me, my mother-in-law, and my daughter. My mother-in-law isn't mobile enough to wait in a line, but my daughter and I are, and wait we did.

Refreshments were served, the lines kept growing and finally Janet arrived, daughter Alex in tow. By then about 300 very patient people were waiting close to an hour.

While I was disappointed that Janet didn't give a talk or read or anything, she got comfortable behind a table and spent as much time with each person as they wanted. She chatted, signed all the books everyone had with them, and took pictures with whoever wanted to. Alex handed out stickers and balloons to everyone who wanted them. And to their credit, Borders, via Crystal the community relations person, casually moved the elderly and disabled to the front of the line.

Even the sales staff had fun - this is Cathy, who gave me my wristband for my place in line at 9:30 in the morning and was still smiling at 7:30 that night! A good time was had by all.